


I Just See You

by WildHoneyProse



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Order 66 (Star Wars), Rare Pairings, Rebellion Era (Star Wars), Riyo and Wolffe are spys for the rebellion, domestic life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 11:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30054540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildHoneyProse/pseuds/WildHoneyProse
Summary: Set post Order 66, two and a half years after Fox is killed by Vader.Wollfe and Fox were batchmates and best brothers/friends. Riyo was secretly married to Fox for around a year before he was killed.In her grief, Riyo chose to leave her role as senator behind and become a spy with the rebellion.The Empire gave CC's the option to retire about a year after the fall of the republic, and Wolffe chose to do so. He was then recruited by Rex to join the rebellion and volunteered to assist Riyo on her mission to Cantonica.She is undercover as a retired politician, and he as her loyal bodyguard. Their mission is to mingle with the wealthy and influential in the Casinos in Canto Bight and gather intel to assist the Rebellion.
Relationships: Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox, Riyo Chuchi/CC-3636 | Wolffe
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	I Just See You

**Author's Note:**

> You can thank/blame @lilhawkeye3 for putting Riyo/Wolffe in my head.  
> I'm just so compelled by the complexity of this dynamic. The shared grief over losing someone they both loved dearly (albeit differently) just makes for so much emotional depth. I really believe in the potential for a beautiful and mature relationship to flow out of that type of situation, and I enjoyed every minute of writing this. :)

Wolffe helped Riyo clean up from dinner. Drying the dishes and putting them away as she washed them. He had come to secretly savor these moments of domestic normalcy. There was something safe and familiar about the routine they had fallen into over the last year and a half on assignment together for the Rebellion. 

It had been a struggle at first, living and working alongside Fox's widow. She had been a constant reminder of the pain of losing his brother, and he was sure he had been a constant reminder to her of the pain of losing her husband. The fact that, besides his scar and cybernetic eye, Wolffe and Fox were identical could not have been easy for her. There had been moments early on, mostly when Riyo was tired, that he would catch her looking at him strangely as if she had seen a ghost. But the longer they lived and worked in such close proximity, the more they had relaxed and fallen into a routine and a comfortable friendship. 

But ever so gradually, things had begun to change again. The easy, comfortable relationship he and Riyo had existed in for months felt strained somehow as if some unbidden tension had crept in to disturb Wolffe's peace. He had caught himself occasionally gazing just a little too long or standing just a little too close. Sometimes he could feel his stomach flip when she looked at him a certain way or when her hand grazed his. And there was the pesky fact that though he had always known Riyo was beautiful, her beauty had begun to haunt his dreams. Wolffe wondered if Riyo felt it too. Sometimes there were moments when their eyes met, and the tension between them was so thick he could hardly breathe.

It had happened so gradually that he had hardly noticed at first. Then Rex and Ahsoka had passed through on one of their missions and asked him what was going on between them, and now it was all Wolffe could think about. At first, it had bothered him and felt wrong to have feelings for Fox's widow. Sure, Fox had made Wolffe promise to take care of her if anything ever happened to him, but he wondered if this is what his brother meant. Even if it wasn't wrong, though, and it was what Fox meant, Wolffe was nearly paralyzed by the fear that Riyo would never stop seeing Fox when she looked at him. That she would never see him simply as Wolffe. Mostly, he doubted that anyone could ever love him the way he had come to love her. And so he resolved to keep those feelings buried deep and locked away. 

"Wolffe," Riyo said, nudging him with her elbow.

Wolffe snapped back to the present and looked down at her to see she was holding out a wet dish for him to dry. 

"Oh, sorry," he said as he took it from her.

"What's got you so distracted?" Riyo's grin and the teasing glint in her eyes made his stomach flutter.

He swallowed hard and shrugged, looking down at the dish in his hands.  
Riyo hummed at his lack of response. "Well, I was thinking about having a glass of wine and trying out that Trammistan chocolate I picked up from that new booth in the market today."

Wolffe nodded silently in response, and Riyo added sheepishly, "I got enough to share… do you want to join me?"

Of course he wanted to join her. One of his favorite parts of their time working together had been Riyo introducing him to food and drinks he had never experienced before. His palette had significantly expanded over the last year and a half, and he couldn't imagine ever going back to ration bars and GAR-issued caf. 

He looked at her, considering if it would be wiser to just decline and go to bed early, but she was looking up at him with such expectancy that Wolffe found himself saying he would be happy to join her. He felt he might be unable to resist anything she asked of him with that look on her face. At this point, he wondered if she knew the power she held over him. It wasn't the kind of power he felt an obligation or duty to comply with. It was simply that he deeply desired to make her happy, to see her smile and know that he was the one that put it there. 

She smiled at him, and he felt heat rising in his neck. "Good," she said. "You're gonna love it." Then she went back to washing dishes in contented silence.

When the dishes were all cleaned and put away, Wolffe went into the living area of the apartment they shared to start a fire. The nights on Cantonica had grown chilly, and he found that sitting by the fire in the evening was one of the most relaxing things he had ever experienced. Being undercover with the Rebellion demanded a lot from them, but it certainly had its perks. 

By the time the fire was blazing, Riyo and Wolffe were sitting on the floor in front of it, with their backs against the sofa. Each with a glass of wine in hand and a bag of small round chocolate candies between them. 

"These are amazing," Wolffe said with wide eyes, popping another chocolate into his mouth.

Riyo giggled and nodded, taking another for herself. Wolffe looked over at her and was struck by how relaxed she seemed. Her hair was loosely braided, and she was wrapped up in a cozy blanket. But it was the contented look on her face and the lack of tension in her shoulders that he noticed the most. She had been carrying a lot of weight. Being a retired politician, Riyo was accustomed to using her talent with words to get information out of people. But there was a different kind of pressure that came with using those same talents as a spy.

Riyo caught him staring, and Wolffe thought he saw a blush rise on her sky blue cheeks. "What is it?" she asked.

It was Wolffe's turn to blush. "I uh… You just seem relaxed. And you look happy."

Riyo's eyes widened a bit, and she looked down at her half-empty wine glass. "I… I am happy," she said with a tone of surprise. "A year ago, I thought I'd never be happy again. I guess, in a way, happiness may never really be the same. But I am happy. Happy to be useful for the Rebellion, to be helping people." She paused and looked up at him sheepishly. "Happy that you're here with me." 

Wolffe could feel his ears burning as his stomach fluttered again. "I'm happy to be here," he said quietly. 

"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" Riyo asked with more confidence in her voice.

"Yeah. I guess we do," Wolffe said, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck.

Riyo looked down again, a sad smile on her lips. "I wonder if Fox knew we'd be a good team when he made me promise to look out for you if anything ever happened to him."

Wolffe's eyes widened in surprise. "He did?"

"Yeah, he did."

"He made me promise to look out for you too."

Riyo smiled. "Of course he did. He was always thinking 10 steps ahead, wasn't he?"

Wolffe grinned, "at least 10." 

"He always had a plan for every possible scenario. It used to drive me crazy trying to get him to just relax and be in the moment," Riyo said fondly.

Wolffe laughed. Memories of his brother flooded his mind. It felt good to talk about Fox. To remember his brother without grief overwhelming him. To see Riyo able to do the same. Maybe Fox did know what he was doing. Maybe he knew they would need each other to navigate their grief and find a new kind of joy on the other side of it. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Both lost in bittersweet memories. 

Riyo broke the silence. "I miss him so much. He always talked like he was replaceable. I hated that. He could never be replaced. My heart will always ache for him." She looked up at Wolffe with tears in her eyes. "But I know he would want me to move on. To be happy. And I'm starting to believe it's actually possible for a heart to heal. To learn to love another without forgetting the one it's lost." 

Wolffe felt frozen in place and was surprised when he heard himself speaking. "Do you see him when you look at me?" It was a question he had long wanted to ask but had never had the courage to.

Riyo's soft gaze was so open and honest that it made his heart ache. "At first I did, all the time. But now…" She reached her hand up to cup his cheek. "Now I just see you, Wolffe." 

It was too much. Wolffe had kept his feelings at bay so diligently, and with just a few words and a simple touch, she had effectively set them loose to overpower his resolve. He found himself turning his face just enough to kiss the palm of her hand. It was warm and soft, and his eyes closed involuntarily as he savored her touch.

He felt her move and opened his eyes to see her kneeling in front of him. He had to tilt his chin up to meet her eyes that were searching his. Wolffe felt his breath catch as she slowly leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on the right side of his forehead. She leaned back for a second to survey his reaction. When he didn't pull away, she leaned in and kissed his forehead again, a little lower. By the time she placed a third kiss on his eyebrow, he realized that she was following his scar, and he completely melted into her touch. When she reached the bottom of it, she leaned back again to meet his eyes, and he found that every fear was gone, every doubt was erased. He was hers. 

"I just see you."


End file.
